Sunday, July 10, 2016

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Thanks to Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers for hosting this meme!

I'm three weeks into summer vacation and have already finished six middle grade novels!  Although I can't keep up with a #bookaday, I'm proud that I've read at least two books each week.  Most of all I'm thankful for my book-loving colleagues @kfmayoKaren, @vglueck69, and @HiltonKinsey.  The four of us have formed our own book group to share our favorite new books!

Here are some of my recent favorites!



Students will love The Wild Robot!  My soon-to-be second grader is already hooked!  I think it would be a great read aloud for second through fourth grade.  Peter Brown has written a beautiful story centered around Roz's relationship with the animals on the island.  There are great messages in this book for classroom conversations.  The ending left me hopeful for a sequel!


I've read many of the posts on Twitter related to The Seventh Wish.  I love this book and truly believe that it has a place in our classroom and school libraries. As a classroom teacher, I would prefer to use this book as a read aloud in order to have important conversations with students.  Kate Messner handled a topic that is often avoided in such a beautiful manner.  If you haven't read Melissa Guerette's post on Using The Seventh Wish in the Classroom, I highly recommend it!


Thank you to Jen Vincent @mentortexts for my copy of this incredible book.  Ms. Bixby is the next Mr. Daniels in children's literature for me.  I love how this book alternated perspectives between Topher, Brand and Steve.  Although this book was deeply touching, the comical situations added so much to the story.  I highly recommend this book to all teachers.  We should all aspire to have the type of strong bonds with our students that Ms. Bixby shares with these boys.  


Once I started The Remarkable Journey of Charlie Price, I could not put it down.  In many ways, this was a difficult book for me to read after losing both of my parents in the last two years.  As a classroom read aloud, I think this book would inspire deep conversations about the results (both positive and negative) of Charlie's decisions.  Readers can't help but feel a strong connection to Charlie and his sister.


I loved this novel in verse!  The narrative storyline is beautifully told through the perspective of eighteen different students. One of our fifth grade classes really enjoyed this book as a read aloud this spring.  Their recommendation would be to track the characters on an anchor chart or in a notebook to support students' understanding.   I think Laura Shovan's beautiful collection of poems during a challenging school year would be a great middle grade read aloud.


Wolf Hollow was the first book I finished this summer and it is sure to be one of my favorite books of 2016!  There are so many deep messages in this book, including loyalty, kindness, honesty, and courage. You absolutely must read it!

Currently Reading

I am so grateful for this book recommendation from Carrie Thurston!  I'm halfway through Save Me a Seat and anxious to see how Ravi and Joe will work together to handle the challenges of Dillon, the class bully.  I know that I will be recommending this book as a middle grade read aloud!


Up Next

I am looking forward to reading Mystery of the Missing Fox!  My son and I are Tamra Wight fans!  My fingers are crossed that my grant proposal for an author visit with her is funded soon! I would love to share the Cooper & Packrat books as a community read aloud this year!


Both of these titles appear often on my Twitter feed.  I'm looking forward to reading them in the next few weeks!


Recent Professional Reading


If you haven't read this book, I highly recommend it!  I'm looking forward to rereading it before school starts to prepare for sharing it with teachers this fall.  

Current Professional Reading
I'm excited to participate in the #cyberPD community discussions for DIY Literacy this summer.  Here's my recent post for Chapters 1 and 2, as well as the Bonus Chapter.  I'm looking forward to putting these teaching tools into practice this fall.

Up Next Professionally

I'm looking forward to gathering high impact practices to share with teachers next year!

12 comments:

  1. My first books this summer were also The Wild Robot and The Seventh Wish. What a great way to start! The rest of these books are on my TBR list. Enjoy your book group! Great idea.

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  2. I've been hearing such good things about The Wild Robot and Nine, Ten. I want to read both of them!

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    1. I really enjoyed The Wild Robot! I think it would be a great read aloud for grades 2-4. I'm looking forward to reading Nine, Ten based on all of the recommendations I've seen! Happy Reading!

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  3. Beautiful books read, and coming up! I loved Wolf Hollow and The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary, am just starting Ms. Bixby's Last Day, & others are also on my list. How lucky to have such great books out, for us and for students!

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    1. I agree! There are so many great books to read this summer, which is when I have the most time to read. I loved Ms. Bixby's Last Day and I hope you do, too!

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  4. We have similar tastes in both children's and professional literature. I could not put down Charlie Price either and enjoyed The Last Fifth Grade. Save Me a Seat has such a good message. Just met the author at ILA. Visible Literacy is next on my pd list. I look forward to learning more from you in #cyberpd

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    1. Hi Lisa! I am really enjoying Save Me a Seat. I love the message! Do you have any other recommendations since we seem to have the same taste in books? Happy Reading!

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  5. I'm so thankful that we have talented children's authors like Kate Messner who are willing and able to handle difficult subjects with such sensitivity. Children unfortunately experience all sorts of things we wish they didn't have to, and it's inspiring to know that they are not being forgotten, and that their stories are being shared.

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    1. I agree! I think that read aloud provides us with such a powerful time to have important conversations with our students. I'm grateful for authors like Kate Messner, too!

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  6. I'm curious about Nine Ten as well. But great reads this week!

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    1. Thanks! I'm excited to check out Nine, Ten after seeing all the reviews on Twitter! Happy Reading!

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  7. I started reading Wolf Hollow but didn't finish it before I left Singapore - I hope to get back to reading it as soon as I get back. :)

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